lørdag 22. april 2017

Lerwick, Shetland.Alongside Greenhead Base and everything is well, it seems. We came here a couple of days ago, but we've been busy enough trying to get a few bits and pieces up and running again. There's a million systems on this rather big lump of steel as you might understand, meaning there's always something not quite as good as it should be. I guess that's why there's four of each and every pump or thing on board. If something breaks, we just start it's twin component and everything is running as intended as by magic. Some day you just have to start doing something with them broken units, of course. I think yesterday and today has been those days. I'm a bit fed up on the subjects welding, grinding and hydraulic oil after todays session I must admit. Let's hope I'm looking at things from a bit more positive side for tomorrow.

I was in town one evening. Waiting for the wife to finish work to drive her back home. It was raining, and I thought I could just as well try to get one or two snaps of light on rain drops. It was a good night for that kind of exersise. I got a vague feeling these were done on one of the rangefinders, but I'm not 100% sure.

I've even been walking about on the quayside to take a few snaps. Just had to get out to get some fresh air when the working day was done today. The light was dull though, hence probably the photos will be just that as well. There might be one or two, so we will have to wait and see as usual. The daily pick had to be from the workshop today. Bits and pieces and stuff... overloaded work bench and all that crap, you know. It looks like somebody threw in a medium sized bomb, shut the door and ran off. Looks like we got some cleaning up to do before we get home. Not many days left now, by the way. I got tickets for Wednesday, and really looking forward to get home. I just hope the weather will turn a wee bit warmer soon, because this is more or less like mid winter. It even snowed a few times both today and yesterday. We don't want snow now, just saying. We want spring, and then we want summer. And we want a nice one, because we deserve it :))

onsdag 19. april 2017

Just a quick one from out at sea.Looks like we're getting closer to the end of this job now as we're just sitting on top of a valve (some sort of christmas tree) to check that the applied pressure is not going to sink during the next 24 hrs. Or, we are actually 12 hours into the check already. Ever been watching paint drying? OK. This is exactly the same thing. One camera, one ROV and one manometer showing a steady reading, as it should. I mean, how many hours would you actually need to make sure your car tyres didn't leak? And would you ever dare taking them out on the road again after making sure that everything was OK? They could start leaking just 20 meters down the drive for all you know. Nah... let's disconnect the whole thing and get ashore. That's my view of it anyway.Seems that the client is of a bit different meaning, and it's his money after all...

Another one from the Cromarty Firth and the walk on any other Sunday during the cold period a couple of months ago. Nikon with 105mm lens attached.

There's people with influence on board at the moment. Which obviously gives me a lot of headache. A few days ago I was told we're going to Peterhead after this job is done, so I ordered some diesel just to make sure we can make it through the next little job we're due on.

Then they suddenly decided that Lerwick on Shetland was a much better option, so I had to cancel my order of 400 000 litres in Peterhead and make a new order of the same amount in Lerwick. Then they didn't know where to go at all... so I had to cancel the order of 400 000 litres in Lerwick, and a few minutes later they suddenly decided that Lerwick sounds great after all...

So, I gave up the whole thing and decided to just wait and see where I will wake up whenever they decide to sail in.

Looks like we're staying in for a few days anyway so there will probably be time enough to get it all on board when we get there... wherever that would be.

I must be a bit stupid, as I should know these guys well enough to not jump on the first thing I hear them saying while their goal sill is days ahead...

Same place, same walk. A proper mainland fence with additional barbed wire on top and everything. I couldn't see any obvious reason for it though, as all you had to do was to go around it if you pleased.

lørdag 15. april 2017

I'm rather stuck out at the Brent field on the UK sector of the North Sea at the moment. This field has been in operation since 1976 and there has been a conciderable amount of oil and gas delivered from this place up through the years. There are four rigs in production on this field, but it seems that it's hay days are over and the field is about to get decommissioned over the next decade or so. Everything will be removed, and not a trace left behind either above the surface or at the sea bed. That's what they're saying, anyway.

A couple of snaps from Nigg, again. The same jackup rig as seen both in moonlight and sunlight, as I went walking around this area for quite a few days the last time I was at work. There's nothing much to say about them other than the obvious. The first one is from the old rangefinder handheld at about 1/2 sec or so done on some rough Kentmere 400 film. The daylight snap I think is from a Nikon FM2 on FP4 film.

I just went outside to have a quick look around the horizon, and were able to count 24 rigs quite easily visible even though the weather and visibility is not 100% perfect. I know we are close to the norwegian borderline, so a few of these 24 rigs are surely norwegian ones. I can easily see and recognize the Statfjord (A, B and C) and a couple of other norwegian fields, I've been there a lot some six to eight years ago you know, and they have not changed much obviously.

Oh, and about dogs then;I'm a dog person. For some reason they seem to connect with me in some kind of strange way. The two above came over to me the last time I was walking around the area of Nigg in Scotland. Came out of nowhere on the beach they did, and one of them carried a ball which was placed right in front of my feet before the two of them took the above shown position with their eyes glued to the round thing. I played with them for ten minutes or so before the poor owner came to some sort of rescue. A fairly aged man with not very much oomph back in his legs, but with a very clear voice and head I should hasten to add. We talked for about half an hour as I also tried to keep the two four legged ones busy by throwing the ball in every thinkable direction. The ball disappeared, and I thought that would be the right moment to sneak away, as the two dogs did not want me out of there for some reason and right now they were very busy trying to locate the ball.I left and had probably walked for about 500 meters or so when the busiest of the two dogs suddenly appeared again, with the ball ready of course. So I turned around and walked back as I constantly threw the ball into the direction of the owner. Nothing worked. I actually had to stay at the car for the old man to get the dogs back inside of it. He told me he have had dogs for about seventy years, and that he had never experienced something like this before... ever. I was more or less waiting for him to ask me if I would take them, but luckily he never did. I mean what good would ever come out of that? The dogs would have to learn the norwegian language, or I had to speak some strange scottish dialect for them to understand me and everything. Nah, that would just get very frustrating for some of us in the end.

Another couple of snaps coming your way folks. Just negative scans, as per usual. I need to get something done about that some time soon, of course. Can't see it happen at any point during the next two or three weeks as I will still be out on the big blue for a little while more.

Looks like I'm coming towards the end of film #03 of the 365 project as well. Only a few more frames and I'll have to change the roll and put in a fresh one. I got a couple of rolls inside my bag, so don't worry about that. I'm a bit in doubt though if I better slow it down to 400 ASA at this time of year, or if I just should carry on with the same push through the full project.

I think I'll sleep on that one, to be honest.

The plan forward when it comes to work seems to be something like this:

- Stay on this current job for another five or six days

- Go in to Lerwick for a quick stop, some fuel and get rid of stuff on deck

- Go out again to more or less the same place for a couple of days work

- Go to Peterhead to demob stuff and send the client people away (that's home) for a while

- Go home on the 27th

- Get back on the 25th of May, probably down south in Great Yarmouth

- Sail north to get a job done somewhere east of Shetland

- Sail over to Ireland to do some work off the coast over there

- Crew change and go home from Killybegs, Ireland.

That's the plan, anyway. What things looks like when reality kicks in, nobody knows. That's as per usual in this kind of game, as you might have come to learn.

At least I must say I really hope to get the chance to get a quick glimpse of Ireland, at last...

The same scaffolding as posted a few days ago, but with a bit different view on the thing. Oh, and this was taken in bright sunlight with a yellow filter mounted on the fine german 35mm lens I got for the old rangefinder.

I think this was seen through the Nikon FM2 from up the hill above Nigg, in the norhtern end of Cromarty Firth a while ago. It was a nice enough day for a walk, but I ended up going alone from the ship. Lazy folks I'm sailing with, probably. Or maybe they had work to do? I guess not, since it was on a sunday and we had been in port for quite a long time anyway. Oh well, at least this is the view you get from up there, in the middle of the hill somewhere.

torsdag 13. april 2017

All sorts of stuff, as you see... but that's the way it gets when you're just trying to document your movements in some sort of way. Nothing much interesting is going to happen. At least not for now.

#031: He was sick, this little lad, and the mother had urgent business at school at the same time. Luckily there's such things as a grandpa still at home, a couple of nice cameras to investigate, some youghurt and bananas and on top of everything a noisy old Landy to take a ride in as things got boring and no good at all. It was a nice day for the both of us, after all.

#032: Packing day. There will always be parts of this day getting the same routine done. Out to shop a few things to bring with me in the bag is one of them. Tooth paste, a couple of books or whatever I might need. I snapped this just before I took off to get things done.

#033: A long day inside the couch taking us from Aberdeen Airport all the way up to the outlet of Cromarty Firth. We stopped around here, in Elgin I think. Went into the shop so I could buy myself some medicines to try get rid of the cold the little lad obviously had transfered to me as by magic a couple of days earlier.

#034: From outside the cabin looking towards the huge buildings across the enourmous space between themselves and the ship. I's a good ten minutes walk up there, believe it or not. These buildings are really big!

#035: Another one from just outside the cabin looking over to the outlet of Cromarty Firth on the northern side of the area. I took a walk over there the next day, or something. You'll see a snap from that event as well if you keep on watching this space...

onsdag 12. april 2017

We just went to sea again. I did not manage to get them leg stretched this time on-shore, so let's just really hope I'll get that done next time. Far too busy doing all the things that has to be done in no time at all. Last thing I heared was a rumor that we were going to stay in Peterhead for 48 hrs. Well... we hardly stayed for 24, and at least twelve of those hours were in the middle of the night. Needless to say we got a bit busy through this day, I guess.

From my last trip to Ona, just before I went to work again. Had some weather and wind coming in during a few days, but it was not from the "right" direction. A bit more from north would have given a lot more waves. Still there was a few with some nice effects from water taken with the wind. I used one of them old Mamiya RZ67 cameras most of the time, and for this one as well. Went through a few different types of film, so no idea what this one was snapped on.

Anyway, we're on our way to sea, and there are waves. Not too bad yet, but then again we have hardly left the harbor, It's going to get worse through the night I think, but the forecast say it's going to ease off soon, so just let's hope they got it right this time. Some times they do, and some times not at all.

From a while back this one, but also from Ona. A plant thing has seen the best of days for the year and is slowly fading away just to pop up with new strength as soon as winter is over. That would be around this time of year, I suppose. I'll try to find it next time I'm out there... This got to be a Rolleiflex snap by the look of things. I mean it's a square negative, and clearly enough it's not snapped with the DianaF plastic lens...

I just pulled myself together and payed the membership fee to the local photo club! How's that for a change of status, you think? Some say they even got a darkroom, but no one can tell me what it looks like, or what's in there. Only one way to find out, I guess. There's probably dust to be cleaned, by the rumors having leaked this way. At least I hope there's something in there to get started with, and maybe I'll even get one or two others to join in from time to time. You never know, actually, but there might be people in such a club with interest in that sort of thing. We'll find out some day. If it's the sort of place where everyone is sitting with their faces glued to a screen at all times I might find better things to do, but I will definitely give it a try. At least there will be guidance to get when it comes to composition and stuff like that. A place to discuss pictures, not only ones and zeros, I hope.

tirsdag 11. april 2017

That's it. Another job done and we're in for a short demob and further mob for the next little project. This time we're heading north, which should be a lot easier as the ship should know the way very well on her own I think. We've been that way before, as you should know if you have followed this thing for a while.

The Attain and The Erin Wood on dry land on the slipway inside Peterhead Harbour.

Anyway. A couple of days ashore will only do us good, I hope. Maybe I'll even get the chance to stretch them old sea dog legs for all we know. That would be good, if it ever happens. I'll let you know if it does.

A dock worker going home from work

Peterhead... We've been here before as well. And I got a few snaps from this place from long time ago when I was out strolling along with a Rolleiflex and a rangefinder made by people spräch(ing) the language I never managed to learn very well. OK, I might understand a few words and sentences, but speaking it... that's a completely different story I'm afraid. I can read and actually understand some of it though, for whatever that might be worth.

The Lapwing in shelter

You have most likely seen these snaps before, but I post them again. It's probably a while since I posted them anyway. We just finished the moorings and stopped most of the engines and made ourselves ready for a lot of noise through the night. There will be welders and joiners working around the clock to make everything ready to go offshore again ASAP. There's always this chaos when ashore as this is not where we make the money, of course. In fact it's a lot more spending than earning, by the look of things.

mandag 10. april 2017

Birds, and a few of them seabirds in particular, seems to enjoy the flight itself even more in strong winds than on a calm and for us beautiful day. I can understand them, in some way. Floating on the invisible strength of the winds without using a single calory just have to be great.I snapped these, and a few more, the last time I was on that island you heard of before. And there was a wee breeze blowing, just saying.

Gulls on the winds.

Mamiya RZ67 on some ORWO East German well expired film.

A cormorant struggling a bit against the wind, but I think he likes it, for some reason. Same camera as above, but different film I think.

søndag 9. april 2017

Three more then, as per usual, from the 365@50 docunetation of the days in my life of 2017. There's nothing much of interest here either, but it might get better and maybe not. We will see.At least I'm still going on, snapping one each day on the F3 using the old Ilford PAN400 film pushed to 1600.Oh well... over to them snaps!

#028: I went over here early in the morning. To the ferry quay not too far from the house. Wanted to take a look inwards the long and rather straight fjord going south from this place, but the light was nothing good so I dropped my initial thought of pointing the camera into that direction. I might do that some other day...

#029: Down by the sea some other place, also rather close to home. The sign tells you to keep your anchor inside your boat unless you're not prepared to take the chance of getting shit all over it... and probably also a huge bill for repair of the old sewage pipe going way out to sea from here.

#030: This looks a bit better. It's the old road where my wife used to walk and bicycle every sunday back and forth to visit her grandad. This is just a very short piece of it, mind you, as she had to walk for about three miles back in the days. We still stroll along here every now and then, and so do quite a few others nowadays. Back then there was no one doing that, as this was a long time ago and the times are a lot different now than they used to be.

lørdag 8. april 2017

Was really thinking of posting something over here yesterday, but the oomph totally went away from me very early in the morning actually. You see we got this big crane which suddenly thought it was a great time to rid itself from 600 litres of hydraulic oil, first thing in the morning. That meant work, to say it just the way it is. Work for all of us, and especially the guys involved in the cleaning-up-the-mess part of the thing. I mean 600 litres of hydraulic oil spilled out over the flooring down in a half-wide crane winch room is actually something. It's actually something to be down there sliding around working with fault finding as well, as a bunch of other guys trying to clean up the goo... So that made it one of those days, as you might understand. Everything is fine now, by the way. Crane working again and all that.

Nah... don't look for sharpness or anything in here! It's a handheld snap from in the middle of a dark and cold night in Nigg, Scotland a while ago. Don't remember the exposure time here and now, but it was rather long. Half or a quarter of a sec, maybe?! It's kind of cool though. Graphic and B&W and all lines. A work of art, sort of... the scaffolding, I mean.

It was done on the M3 with the Cron 35 lens more or less wide open I would guess. Could be Kentmere 400 film for all I know.

Pictures. I've been looking a lot at images recently. Not my own, mind you, but a lot of other peoples snaps from all over the world. From all the way up as far north as you possibly can get in northern Norway via Northern Ireland, and then from the Portraits of the Fanks of the Outer Hebrides over to the old Soviet era shadowy stuff of Alexey Titarenko. Add to all this the most fantastic series of grainy snaps made by the talented norwegian recident italian Andrea, from his trip on the Trans Siberian Railroad (part I, II, III and IV and please take your time and have a good look...) and further over to more modern street style done over in Korea by a mixed media and very talented dude over there, before heading back home to me and myself again. Makes you overwhelmed and start wondering why on earth I even bother to produce something of my own. That's what they do, all these great photographers scattered around in almost every corner of the world. They simply makes you wonder if it's even worth the effort.Well. One just have to think that maybe there's a tiny little possibility that one or two of them might get something out of my snaps from my locations as well at some point. You never know, actually.Like the two in this post, for a start...

This might be sharp if you start to really look into the matters. Sharpness is not the important thing here either, as this one's all windows and roof and contrast, and some negative space. I sort of like it, just so you know. And it was done on the Mamiya RZ67 kind of thing with the 50mm lens attached. A bit wide, but not seriously wild wide, kind of. HP5 I think.

tirsdag 4. april 2017

It's right there in front of me every time I walk this way. Not that it happens every day, or every month for that sake, but it happens every now and then. It always fills me with a wish to grab a snap or two of the old thing, and so I did this day as well. Actually I think they were snapped on two different occations a couple of days apart as I had business over there those days. It's not important anyway.They were snapped with the same camera though. I'm pretty sure about that. One of them big-block Mamiya RZ's again, in case you wondered. I've been a bit busy using them lately, as you might have figured out already.It's a nice old door, don't you think?

Regular snap as I was passing by, done on the Mamiya RZ67 with the 50mm Sekor lens attached. Done on Ilford HP5 film.

A bit more thought through and everything. Went up a small level to try frame the thing just to make something different. I'm not too sure if it worked, but I leave that for others to decide. Mamiya RZ67 and 110mm Sekor lens on this one. Same film, Ilford HP5.

mandag 3. april 2017

Another trio, and we're getting a bit closer to the end of roll #01 of about 10 or something like that. I can ease your mind a bit telling you that I'm still on track with the project, and are starting to really get into the habit of one snap a day on the Nikon F3 I now seem to get a bit more attached to as the days and weeks go by. Still working like a dream it does, if you manage to look away from a misfire I had a while ago where the mirror locked up in open position for some reason. Something you just have to take into account may very well happen through a project like this one. Nothing is possible without some sort of glitch, you know. I'll be back with more some day soon.Or, you just have to tell me when to stop posting these things!

#025: It's just another one of them views out the fjord on one dark and rather drench day in January. The somewhat light spot up there is only to give you hope. Never turns into any better weather or anything, mind you.

#026: I went to town this day, obviously. Don't remember now what I did there, but I seem to have walked across this bridge (the one you can't see, of course) and over to the other side of the narrow channel separating the center of this town. The wife works just over there, so I probably went by to grab a cup of coffe or something. At least I stopped to snap the daily one, halfways over the small bridge.

#027: Center of town, second day in a row. Must be some kind of record looking back at the last year or so. Anyway, I seem to really manage to over expose this one for some reason. In addition I think the composition really shouts out that the snap was done in some kind of hurry without connecting the brain before the shutter were released. Still, according to the rules you just have to take it for what it is. Boring, I know!

søndag 2. april 2017

They're from a while back, these snaps. I went to town with one of the Mamiya RZ cameras tucked inside the back of the car just looking for a nice opportunity to take it out and snap a few masterpieces, as you clearly see by looking at the ones below. That was before the cops came along, of course. Asked me a bunch of weird questions and things like that. Questions I felt I could not answer unless totally giving away what kind of weirdo I really am.So I went away, found better things to do at a place not known to anyone at all more or less.I'm not known to give up though, and will return one day to finish the job. Need a bit of sunlight coming in from the right angle obviously, so might have to wait a bit more to get the chance.

The Wall. Mamiya RZ67, 110 mm Sekor lens on some film. Don't remember which color on the box right now. I might get a few nice ones out of this place with a bit of luck, but that will have to be another day.

The Walls. Mamiya RZ67, 50 mm Sekor lens and same unknown film as above.

lørdag 1. april 2017

All done on the Nikon F3 with an old 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens on Ilford PAN400 film pushed to 1600 before dunked in Rodinal or maybe it was D-76. I think this was D-76 and the second film in Rodinal... but I might be wrong.

#022/365 The young bunch visiting the cottage by the sea for some early in the year barbecue.

#023/365 Went to this ferry quay and found some work going on at one of the piers. Decided it would have to go for the days snap.

#024/365 The old saw mill, or mill saw or whatever it's called in the foreign language... might be something completely else for all I know. It's an old farmers saw anyway, and I went inside a couple of days later with the Mamiya RZ67 loaded with Rollei RPX400 film. You'll see a few results around here some time soon, I guess.